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Thursday, July 30, 2009

Major league suckers

Portland isn't the only city that's being fleeced for "major league" soccer. Back in Chester, Pennsylvania, they really fell for the high-pressure sales pitch from the boys of futbol -- something like $87 million of public money has been thrown into a new stadium.

And Portlanders will love this -- the stadium is supposed to be a "linchpin" of economic development! Economic development that, funny thing, isn't happening. The whole story (with the usual chorus of bleats in the comments section from the drunken frat boys in scarves) is here.

Way to go, Portland -- we may be dumber than Petaluma, California, but we're only half as stupid as Chester, Pennsylvania.

Comments (11)

Note the formulaic similarity of how MLS / Garber approach city governments. They not only promise mixed use development, jobs, etc., but when the opposition swells, they boost their economic projections with no factual support. They start talking about bigger projects, bigger impact, and none of it is supported with independent analysis, and none of it is found in any development agreement. After the government hands over the money, people start looking at the contracts, trying in vain to find the provisions that required X to build binner and better improvements.

Sure the stadiums are wasteful...but the transit-oriented urban village schemes which follow the stadiums can be even worse. Unfortunately the real estate partnerships that follow the stadiums are more complicated and rarely get explained to the public. Example of waste: UO arena is over a 300 million dollar money pit. The quietly planned "arena district"(mixed use development) planners and the UO Foundation hope to surround the arena may exceed $500 million. Meanwhile dimwitted reporters still call the arena a 200 million dollar project and NEVER mention or try to understand the sport themed arena district to follow. The key: the 100 million dollar legacy gift went to the UO FOUNDATION not to UO. That way the secret contingencies of the "gift" can remain concealed.

"usual chorus of bleats in the comments section from the drunken frat boys in scarves"

At the risk of giving him some PR, be careful, TorridJoe may come to get you (he did say some nasty things on his blog).

I think he fantasizes about 7 hours a day at his CoP job about:
1) Not liking you
2) Thinking he is a soccer/Blazer fan
3) Knows something about politics, and
4) That more than 3 people a week read his blog

Notice that it was Philly's alt-Weekly, Citypaper, that ran the extensive analysis of this piece of corporate welfare. So here with WillyWeek. The dinosaurs, the Portland Oregonian, and I would wager the Philly Inquirer, are too tied in with the pols & developers to dare to keep up an exposure of these crimes - an occasional mildly questioning piece to maintain a look of objectivity, but the drumbeat and cheerleading goes on.

I read that story closer and one more parallel (including PFE vs. MLS) to Portland:

"Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber brazenly declared that a new MLS franchise was considering choosing St. Louis as a home over Philly, and would stay in Pennsylvania only if the state coughed up big money, quick."

Garber can sure pull the strings of these pols. He must go and search for the mouth-breather types in city government who can shove this stuff thru a lot easier than higher-up governments.

"is it that Bark Munster keeps his job after being repeatedy outed as someone who tools around on the net all day at his public job? WTF!?!"

check out when I called him on it at blueoregon
"You don't know my schedule, you don't know when I'm on duty and when I'm not, and it's irrelevant to the conversation in the first place. It's infantile and stupid, and it makes you look foolish. If you're going to go there, I'm going to point that out."

Road Work

Miles run year to date: 45
At this date last year: 117
Total run in 2016: 155
In 2015: 271
In 2014: 401
In 2013: 257
In 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269